Visit to the Peranakan Museum
Last week, on Thursday, we visited the Peranakan Museum in Armenian St. I’d like to give a short write-up about our visit. Before the visit, our teacher, Alvin, gave us good introduction of the museum. When we arrived, we were met by a pretty female guide who went with us to visit the galleries. We heard about the history of the Peranakans and entered their world. We learnt about the relationship between the Peranakans and Chinese, South Asian, European and local Malay women in the fifth century. The men were rich. They got married and had a happy life.
Some interesting aspects of the Peranakan culture which fascinated me were customs related to their wedding which lasted 12 days, and their food and feasts. There was an especially wide array of costumes on display. We also saw lots of jewellery pieces made of gold, silver, diamond and so on. We learnt that other cultures had greatly influenced Peranakan culture. The museum displays many antiques from 18th century Peranakan culture. The Peranakan culture is a unique hybrid which still plays an important role in the life of Singaporeans. After visiting the Peranakan museum, we have broadened our perspective about Singapore history. Today Singapore’s population is five million. The majority are Chinese, forming 80% of population, followed by the Malays and Indians in that order.We can see that Singapore tries its best to preserve the cultures and traditions of its people